Athens is rewriting its illegal gambling playbook. Officials are no longer talking only about shutting down unlicensed sites and raiding illegal game rooms. They are now signaling criminal exposure for players who keep coming back.
Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis told lawmakers the illegal market is worth about €1.6bn to €1.67bn a year and costs the state at least €500m in lost public revenue.
Player penalties move from taboo to policy tool
Most enforcement packages stop at operators, facilitators, and technical measures like blocking. In Greece’s new direction, lawmakers have said “repeat participation” will trigger action against players, even though the full penalty schedule has not been published yet.
That demand-side step is why the story stands out in coverage of the crackdown. It is meant to sit alongside supply-side enforcement, not replace it, by increasing the personal risk of staying in the illegal channel.
The numbers lawmakers are leaning on
Officials have pointed to research suggesting nearly 800,000 people participated in illegal gambling in 2024. Reported breakdowns include about 390,000 who gambled online, 215,000 who used land-based venues, and 194,000 who used both channels.
Regulators have also said they have already blocked close to 11,000 illegal domains, but that the market keeps regenerating. That is the core argument behind widening enforcement beyond just blocking and raids.
A 2026 decree aims at organizers, venues, and the money trail
Pierrakakis has said a public decree is expected in the first half of 2026. Reporting on the draft direction points to tougher organizer penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and fines of €50,000 to €100,000, with escalators for repeat offenses and cases involving minors.
Municipalities are expected to get stronger powers to revoke business licenses linked to illegal play, while the regulator’s investigative toolkit expands. Officials have also discussed more data-driven monitoring, including stronger DNS filtering and interagency cooperation that can follow payment flows.
